


Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect

by Yours_Truly_Commander_Shepard



Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Afterlife, Bars, Beyond the Sea, Drinking, F/M, Fishing, Fluff, Gift Exchange, Gift Fic, Post-Canon, Post-Mass Effect 3, Wish Fulfillment, fluff?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 22:01:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29641320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yours_Truly_Commander_Shepard/pseuds/Yours_Truly_Commander_Shepard
Summary: Somewhere beyond the sea, there is a bar.  And in that bar, there is a bathroom.  And on that bathroom floor is Jane Shepard, just waking up.
Relationships: Thane Krios/Female Shepard
Comments: 11
Kudos: 21





	Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SidheLives](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SidheLives/gifts).



Jane recognized the bar by the blue tiles decorating the urinals. She’d never seen them from that particular angle before, but she’d woken up on the floor of enough bar bathrooms to make the mental leap and place herself at the asari tiki bar Cyan Aura--in its bathroom, specifically. She couldn’t remember falling asleep there, but passing out on the floor of a bar’s bathroom was usually less of a considered decision than a collapse between the toilet and the door. She’d woken up because the little hygiene mech had finished cleaning all the floor around an outline of her body and wanted to finish the job. It beeped dolefully at Jane until she picked herself up and went to the sink to wash her hands in the sonic cleanser. 

Her dog tags jingled until she tucked them back inside her hoodie. She supposed that she didn’t have to wear them while she was on shore leave, but she felt naked without them, and most people didn’t seem to mind that she left them on even when she  _ was _ trying to be naked. 

Jane swished her mouth out with some water from the fountain and splashed the rest on her face, feeling remarkably good for the amount of ryncol she must have downed to pass out in the bathroom. She pushed the door open to the floor of the bar. 

It was either very late or very early based on the number of patrons present. Of course, in Illium, the days and nights looked the same in summer at the resorts at the North Pole--endless white haze over blue skies, twenty-three hours a day. Sun filtered through the half-open shutters between the bar and the rest of the beachside report. 

Kasumi turned to smile at Jane from her perch on the stool by the jukebox console. 

“Have a nice nap?” she asked. Her lips curved as she punched up the Dramaxeens.

“I love this song,” Jane said, surprised. 

Kasumi’s smile exposed a few white teeth. “Yeah, I know.” 

Jane was of the ‘boot and rally’ school of drinking and feeling perkier by the minute, so she gestured for the kind-faced asari bartender to pour her another, claimed her drink and then headed over to watch the only other denizen of the bar throw darts. 

She couldn’t recall seeing the drell in anything other than black leather combat gear, but they had no plans to kill anything other than time at the resort, so he was wearing the native dress of his people: a silky red hip-wrap, like culottes. Nothing else. Nothing else was a good look on him. 

Thane apparently considered paying for points to be an insufficient test of his skill, because as Jane watched, he tossed a dozen darts into the shape of a daisy, all clustered in the upper right quadrant of the board. 

“You’re pretty good with those,” Jane said admiringly.

“I have had lots of practice recently,” Thane replied, dismissing his skill as he landed the last one dead center. 

“What, while I was passed out in there?” Jane teased him.

“Yes,” he agreed, turning to her and smiling. They must have come there together, but something in her chest clenched and burst at the expression on his face. Happy to see her. Relaxed and content. 

He gave her a slow blink, finally taking her in. 

“Are you feeling better, siha?” he asked.

Jane rolled her shoulders, thinking about it. Surprisingly, she felt good. Ryncol usually gave her at least an hour or so of trouble until her implants could metabolize all the byproducts, but her head was clear and her body felt alert. Even the little place in her left hip that always ached in the morning was quiet. 

“Pretty great actually,” she said, and Thane inclined his head in quiet enjoyment of that simple statement. 

The Dramaxeens faded out into Lady Sweat. A slow song. 

“I like this song too,” Jane said, looking back at Kasumi to see if the little thief was buttering her up for something, but the woman had vanished from the bar stool and gone without notice. It was only the two of them in the bar, with the bartender gone back to the kitchen to prepare for the after-breakfast crowd. 

“You used to play this in your quarters,” Thane said, taking a step closer to her. He carefully picked up her hand and put it on his shoulder. 

Jane snorted when he took her opposite hand and pulled her into a slow sway. 

“When I dance in bars, I’m usually on the table,” she pointed out. 

“It is a little quiet in here for that, but perhaps later,” he said, not taking his eyes off of her. 

Jane usually avoided sentimentality like stray bullets, but there was nobody else in the bar to see them, so she gave into the temptation just that once. She didn’t know if drell danced as a general rule, but this one in particular did it well enough--better than the relevant Alliance marine. He moved slower than the beat, just barely turning her in place as the singer’s voice swept on. They’d always moved so well together, as attuned to the other’s body and mood in combat as in the bedroom. She didn’t think she’d had a chance to dance with him before, and she sensed he’d been waiting for the opportunity. 

“What would you like to do today?” he asked, and Jane thought it had to be morning for how awake she felt. 

She pondered the options she’d noticed at the resort. Something in the darts gave her an idea.

“Would you care to try our luck down at the boardwalk?” she asked, and Thane was pleased to indulge her.

* * *

Some hours later, Jane had spent a lot of credits, but the only games she could win were the shooting ones. The shooting games gave stuffed animal prizes, but that wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted to win the ring-toss. 

“These things are rigged,” she told Thane suspiciously as she failed to land a ring over the stiff tail tip of a mechanical space monkey. The space monkey tail was 500 points, enough for the grand prize. 

“Do you think so?” His voice was serious, but his expression was tender. 

That particular stall offered wide-brimmed hats as prizes, and Jane wanted one for her afternoon plans, which involved lying on the nearby beach. 

She tossed another ring, which bounced off the tail tip and landed in the gutter. 

“I wish I were better at this,” she frowned. 

“No you don’t,” a familiar voice came from behind her. Jane whirled to see Ashley standing behind her, hands on her hips. Ashley’s hair was down, and she wore a patterned jumper over athletic sandals. She looked relaxed and tan; she’d been at the resort for a while. 

“I don’t?” Jane asked, confused. 

“Nah,” Ashley said. “If you wanted to win, you would. But you actually want your boyfriend to win one for you, for once.” She winked at Thane. 

He inclined his head and picked up the last ring. He tossed it underhand at the target. It blurred imperceptibly blue as it followed the twitching tip of the mechanical monkey’s tail, finally speared in place when it landed.

“Hey,” the little volus proprietor squawked. “That’s cheating. Biotics are cheating!” 

“You’re cheating,” Jane blustered. She wanted that hat, and the monkey’s tail obviously moved when someone tossed the ring. 

Thane looked pointedly at the posted rules, which did not say anything about biotics. 

“I don’t have to give you the prize if you don’t get the ring on fair and square,” the volus argued. 

“Let’s ask our lawyer,” Ashley said. She looked over her shoulder at the tall, robotic figure approaching from further down the boardwalk. 

“Hey Legion,” she called, “Does Shepard get the hat if Thane uses biotics to make the toss? Legally, I mean.” 

The volus raked his claws in surprise. “That’s not a lawyer! That’s a geth.” 

Legion’s ocular rings churned as it approached. “I have just downloaded and compiled every statute and legal decision ever rendered on Illium.” The rings churned again, a second longer. “And in the rest of asari space.” A small, green light turned on at the top of its sensory dome. “Technically speaking, I  _ am _ the law.” 

“There,” Jane said with satisfaction. “So, legally speaking, does he have to give me my hat?” 

“Per Illium Code section 8528.48 and the precedent of Aellissa v. Thois, it is legal to use biotics to achieve any result in which physical skill is permitted,” Legion declared in its deadpan voice.

“That means fork it over,” Ash said, leaning on the counter. Legion’s spotlight shone on a very large, red floppy number hanging directly over the volus. 

Thane crossed his arms over his broad, bare chest. “Unless you intend to be…in breach of contract?” 

Four trained killers stared at the volus. It sighed.

* * *

Jane thought she might look a little silly in her new hat over her military cargo pants, but she also thought she might never take it off. In a technical kind of way, it had been a present from Thane, and Jane couldn’t remember ever receiving a present that didn’t have a military use. They walked hand in hand down to the beach that formed a crescent moon around the boardwalk and pier. The broad expanse of white sand might have been brought in by the resort operators, Jane thought, but it looked nice against the verdant green of the jungle and the shining blue of the wide polar sea. 

“Where should we set up?” Jane asked, looking between the deck chairs and an area closer to the water with clean, folded towels on a cart. She thought about sunbathing. “Can you get sunburned?” she asked, thinking that she wouldn’t mind very much rubbing the drell equivalent of sunscreen into Thane’s back. 

“I cannot,” he told her serenely. “But you can. You already have a few new freckles.” He brushed a claw fondly across her cheekbone. “Perhaps we should sit in your friends’ cabana.”

Jane looked around, spying a set of striped tents further down the beach. 

“Oh good, someone already rented one?” she asked. Jane wasn’t very familiar with vacations, not having taken very many. She was glad someone else had taken care of the logistics. 

“Yes, for the entire day,” Thane said, leading her through the sand. Rakhana was a desert, Jane remembered. He was good at walking across the dunes, and she braced herself on his arm. She was ready to sit down again by the time they reached the cabana. 

It was quite a bit larger than she expected when they reached it; a permanent structure, with a fan circulating air inside, and a refrigerated cooler in the center. 

Anderson and Mordin sat just outside the entrance of the tent, reclining on plastic lounge chairs. Anderson was dozing in the sun, hands folded across his stomach, aviator sunglasses shading his eyes. Mordin had a smear of green zinc oxide across his brow ridges and his feet in a small foot bath. He looked up from his datapad as Jane and the drell approached. 

“Shepard! Good to see you. Also to talk to you. And with you. Please, take a seat.” 

He gestured at a stack of beach chairs in the tent behind him, and Thane retrieved a couple for them to sit in between Mordin and Anderson, just shaded by the canopy. 

“Are you thirsty?” the salarian inquired. “Hope you are. Would like to test my latest system.” 

Jane craned her head to look back at the drink cooler. “The cooler? Sure, I’ll take a--”

“That’s my beer,” Anderson interjected. “Not that you’re not welcome to one.”

“No no no,” the salarian said. “Not the beer. Over-processed. Lacks depth and finish.”

Anderson snorted in disagreement.

“You will want to order something from the bar at the other end of the beach. Something complicated. With coconut cream and crushed ice,” Mordin said excitedly. 

“Uh, sure,” Jane said. That sounded good. Anderson grimaced in minor disdain, tipping his longneck back. She didn’t think she’d ever seen him out of uniform either, but he wore a palm-frond print shirt open over a white, ribbed undershirt. His dog tags were tucked away too. Old habits for old marines.

Mordin tapped rapidly on his datapad. Out in the waves, Jane saw a flash of light, like a beacon. The beacon began to rapidly move away from them, toward the other end of the beach. It was too far away for her to see what emerged from the waves at the bar, but a few minutes later, the beacon reappeared and approached them. 

A nautical mech? Some kind of sea creature? 

Jane did not expect a large, yellow reptile that resembled a sea turtle--a sea turtle with a bit of king crab in its ancestry--to shuffle out of the surf and laboriously slide its way up to them. The transit from the waterline to the cabana took nearly as long as the rest of the trip to the bar.

“Much faster in the water than on land,” Mordin chattered. “But time savings from aquatic portion--straight line rather than great arc, that helps too--ensure minimal melting upon delivery. Timed it against walking on foot. Tested in multiple weather conditions. Ideal drink delivery mechanism for this beach.” 

The turtle had a cooler strapped to the back of its shell, and Mordin removed the biocomposite foam lid to remove two daiquiris, which he handed off before securing the cooler again. 

The turtle opened its mouth to Mordin, and the salarian picked up a wedge of pineapple from the bucket next to him and gingerly fed the turtle a slice.

“I can’t believe you trained the turtle to bring you drinks,” Jane said. 

“Was the most logical solution to the problem of distance from the daiquiri stand,” Mordin replied with pride. “Next week, plan to work with local avians. Tiki bar offers seafood fritters. Big plans."

Jane finished the daiquiri and watched the tide roll in. The sun hung high in the sky the entire time, but the day grew warmer, and she started to sweat, even in the shade. 

Anderson nodded at a line of puffy white clouds on the distant horizon. “It’ll cool down after it rains. I might do a little fishing then. Best time for sport fishing, when it rains.”

“Do you have a boat?” 

He pointed past the edge of the beach, where a slip jutted out into the water. There was a gleaming white sport-fisher docked there, big enough for three chairs on the fly bridge.

“Nice,” Jane said with admiration. “Where did you rent it?” She thought she wouldn’t mind doing a little fishing while she was there.

“I didn’t rent--I bought,” Anderson said, cracking open another beer. “I think I might stay here for a while.”

“Well, you deserve it,” Jane said after she finished digesting that. If anyone had earned a retirement somewhere sunny, it was Anderson. “What’s her name?”

He snorted. “Guess.”

“I suggested ‘Sea-Shepherd.’ ‘Too on the nose,’ he said,” Mordin butted in.

Jane grinned. “Is that the Normandy SR-3?”

“Sure is,” Anderson replied. “Come on out later when it’s raining. We’ll catch dinner.” 

He stood up and mentioned heading back to his room for a nap. The heat was also making Jane sleepy, so she asked Thane whether they had a room at the resort too. 

“Of course we do,” he replied, titling his head. “Shall we?”

They bid a temporary farewell to Anderson and Mordin and followed the fern-lined path back to the silver tower of the main resort building. It soared hundreds of feet into the sky, twisting so that each room had semi-private balconies with a view of the bay. 

When Jane stepped into the elevator, she recalled that they had a suite. 

Thane stood behind her as the elevator slowly rose over a hundred stories into the sky. He pressed his face into the curve of her neck, hands carefully rest on her hips. He wasn’t demonstrative in public, but he had a soldier’s appreciation of time and enclosed spaces. 

“I’ve never misbehaved in an elevator before,” Jane said thoughtfully as goosebumps rose on her arms from the tender press of his lips on her neck. 

“Shall I hit the emergency brake?” he offered politely. 

She gave his offer the consideration it was due.

“I’d like to see our room first. Maybe on the way back down?”

“As you wish, siha,” he agreed.

Their room was most of the top floor, with windows on three of the four walls, white sunlight streaming in and the warm breeze drifting in through the open door. 

“It’s not too humid for you?” Jane finally remembered to ask. “For your lungs?”

“Not at all,” Thane replied. “I grew up by the ocean, and now there is no need to worry about my illness. I can finally enjoy the sea again.” 

Jane frowned, trying to remember why that might be the case now. The drell walked out onto the balcony, bracing himself by the palms as he took in the view. 

She followed him, soothed by the tranquility of the scene. 

“How long are we staying?” she asked, because she could not quite recall.

Thane turned to meet her gaze, gem-like eyes crinkling in compassion. “As long as you would like to.”

“Do I have enough shore leave?” She felt like she did--and there was no urgent task drawing her attention away that she could think of. 

“If you want it to, this day goes on forever,” Thane told her. “This sea does not require another shore. The sun will never set. And I never have to leave.”

Jane’s hands clenched on the balcony. 

“But it isn’t real, is it?”

He cocked his head at her.

“Isn’t it? Can’t you feel the wind? Do you not see me here with you? Is there anything else you ever wanted?”

It was everything she’d ever wanted. The clean sweep of beach. Her friends happy and safe, the rest of them bound to join them eventually. The bar never closed, the sun never set, and her lover finally had finally come back to her. But it was all her. 

“If this is all my idea of heaven, then...you’re not real,” Jane said, disappointed. “It’s just the idea of you.” 

“I’m not sure I follow,” Thane said, unalarmed. 

“I can’t believe your idea of heaven is binge drinking at a beach resort with a bunch of Alliance marines,” Jane pointed out, the corner of her mouth twisting up in mild self-derision. “If this were your heaven, we’d be...I don’t know. Walking through museums. Botanical gardens, or something. Stuff I can’t even imagine.” 

There hadn’t been enough time, money, or shore leave in Jane’s not-so-long life to even look up those places on the extranet. 

Thane reached for her hand and used it to pull her until she looked off past the edge of the boardwalk to a heavily wooded area beyond the attached concert amphitheater. If Jane squinted, she could just make out the tips of a set of decorative columns through the flowering jungle trees. 

“Fortunately, I can imagine them,” Thane added. “And during the summer, which is always, they are open all day long.”

Jane gave a small laugh when she understood. This shore was broader than she’d dreamed. 

Thane’s hand wrapped around hers more firmly. “You cannot have thought that my heaven would not have you in it too.” 

She’d never had time to dream of it. But now she had plenty of time. 

The drell tipped her head back to kiss her, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to return the gesture until the sweet afternoon rains slicked their skin and told them it was time to go fishing. 

**Author's Note:**

> This is my second T-rated work and my first fluff. 
> 
> I have written nearly 850k words of fanfic. 
> 
> Do not judge me. 
> 
> (But kinkshame me on Twitter @YTCShepard and on Tumblr @ YoursTrulyCommanderShepard).


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